Secret plans for snap referendum dumped

Secret plans by Tory election strategist Sir Lynton Crosby to call a snap second independence referendum were dumped before making it out of Downing Street, The Courier has learned.

It emerged yesterday that the adviser credited with masterminding David Cameron’s majority victory in 2015 but chastised for his role in Theresa May losing that parliamentary advantage this month had urged the Prime Minister to call Nicola Sturgeon’s bluff and authorise another ballot before the Brexit process is complete.

A leaked memo prepared by the Tories’ election supremo, which was obtained by The Times, shows he told the party to “harness the uncertainty caused by Brexit and use it to secure support for the status quo”.

SNP leader Ms Sturgeon went into the election campaign demanding a second vote between the autumn of next year and the spring of 2019.

The Courier revealed in February that Downing Street was war gaming for almost exactly the scenario demanded by the First Minister a month later.

Senior Tory sources confirmed Sir Lynton’s plan would have been shot down had it been floated north of the border.

One said: “We were very much of the view, having looked into this (public mood on a second referendum), that we should not be saying yes to it. It would have been impossible for us to have had a referendum, having spent the two years getting people’s votes on the basis they didn’t want another referendum.”

Another added: “Just think how ‘well’ we would have done in Scotland if he had run the campaign.

“His plan never got off the ground. His position was that we would have won it but he had no feel for context.”

Sir Lynton did not respond to a request to comment.